Similarities & Differences VS. Similarities & Paradigmatic Differences…

Similarities & Differences VS. Similarities & Paradigmatic Differences…

How do you view people who are different from you? 

Now before you get defensive, know that I am not challenging your genetic predisposition to be xenophobic and I am definitely not calling you a racist (unless you are like this guy who is most definitely a racist).

We understand from a young age that people are different.  As we get older our understanding of these differences increases its layers of complexity and comprehensiveness.  At first this is quite alarming for a child.  Recognizing that the rest of the world does not adhere to the norms and rules that encompass our personal paradigms (key word) can be an intimidating thing. 

We’re taught from a young age that difference is good, and that even though we’re different we’re all equal.  While this sentence is vague, and potentially commits the fallacy of equivocation (here where the fallacy of equivocation was used in Plato’s Meno), it a sentiment that feels really good to teach young people.  That lesson's most egregious crime may be that it is inherently impossible…

We can at least agree that two different people can’t be the same, by definition.  So what do we mean when we say equal?

Going to college is important for many reasons {“Going to college” is a phrase that may be slowly going obsolete, something that occupies my mind and something that I look to write about} but for me and every other student who attends a large university going to college means being faced with the stark reality that your perspective is a drop in the bucket.  The unique way you see the world represents one sentence in a testimonial as thick as those Encyclopedia Britannica’s used to be (if you are under the age of 15 you may not know what Im talking about because you used to Encyclopedia Google). 

“Walk a mile in my shoes”

Empathy has been evolutionarily chosen (Go Darwin!) and serves an important role in making us human (psychopaths have this empathy ‘node’ missing and could be considered on a spectrum more closely with monsters then with humans).

In Judaism, there is a notion from the Ethics of our Father for which some understandings have suggested that the Universe was created for you.  This is subtly relatable.  That is, when thinking about the concept of reality it is impossible for two people to have the exact same conception.  You could blame a different set of experiences for that.  Next time you are in Times Square think about that... The world is a vast place.  Don’t settle for a reality you have been given, make your own.